Attachment for a carpet wand

ABSTRACT

A conventional steam cleaning carpet wand can be modified to be used on a hard floor by an attachment that can be removably attached to the head of the carpet wand.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Australian Patent Application No.2004205176, filed Aug. 23, 2004. The application is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to an attachment that can be attached to acarpet wand to make the carpet wand particularly suitable for use onhard floors. The attachment can be quickly and easily attached to almostany type of carpet wand and can also be quickly detached. The attachmentcan also be used to increase the size of a normal carpet wand to makethe carpet wand more efficient on carpets.

BACKGROUND ART

A carpet wand forms part of an apparatus that is used to steam cleancarpets. The apparatus typically comprises a motor, a long flexiblevacuum hose, and a carpet wand that is attached to the end of the hose.The carpet wand typically comprises a steel handle. The lower end of thesteel handle contains a head. The head is formed with an elongatetransverse slot. The motor generates a strong vacuum to causeparticulate matter/water to be sucked through the transverse slot andthrough the hose. A water tank forms part of the apparatus and a heateris provided to heat the water. A smaller solution hose conveys hotwater/cleaning agent to the head. The head of the carpet wand containsone or more nozzles in front of the transverse slot and hot water passesthrough these nozzles under pressure. The hot water loosens dirt in thecarpets and the water/dirt is sucked through the slot and through thevacuum hose. It is common for a surfactant or other additive to be mixedwith the water.

There are various different designs of the carpet wand and particularly,there are different head sizes.

While the carpet wand is efficient for steam cleaning carpets, it is notvery efficient in cleaning hard floors such as wooden floors, corkfloors, lino floors etc.

It is known to provide a purpose built wand for hard floors. This wandis sometimes known as a vacuum squeegee. The wand is again attached to avacuum hose and hot water is provided under pressure fitted to jetsinside the squeegee head.

When cleaning the floors in a houselbuilding, it is very common for thefloors to be a combination of carpets and hard floors. Conventionally,it has been necessary to have two wands, one being a carpet wand, andthe other being a wand for hard floors.

There would therefore be an advantage if it were possible to provide anattachment that could be attached to a carpet wand to make the carpetwand suitable for use on hard floor such that it would no longer benecessary to provide a completely separate wand for hard floors.

It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication isreferred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission thatthe publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art inAustralia or in any other country.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An attachment for a carpet wand is provided that can make the carpetwand suitable for use on hard floors and which may provide a useful orcommercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in an attachment for a carpet wand,the attachment being attachable to the head of a carpet wand to make thecarpet wand suitable for use on hard floors.

Suitably, the attachment comprises an elongate body.

The elongate body may have a length which is approximately the samelength as the width of the carpet head or longer. Typically, theelongate body will have a length of between 20-80 centimetres.

The elongate body may be made of any suitable material including metalsuch as aluminium, steel, metal alloys and the like. The elongate bodymay also be made of plastics, composite materials and the like and it isnot considered that the invention should be limited to the material fromwhich the elongate body is made.

The elongate body typically comprises a top wall and a bottom wall. Thetop wall may be provided with an elongate slot or opening which isadapted to cooperate with the elongate slot on the head of the carpetwand. It is preferred that the elongate slot on the elongate body has alength which is sufficient to accommodate almost all commercial versionsof carpet wands such that the attachment can be used on different carpetwands. The opening/elongate slot may be in communication with theoutside air to provide an air flow through the opening/slot when vacuumis applied.

Attachment means may be provided to attach the attachment to the carpetwand. It is considered that any suitable type of attachment means couldbe used. For instance, the attachment means may comprise a clip, aclamp, a fastener, adhesive, straps and the like. In a particularembodiment, the attachment means comprises an attachment plate that canreleasably lock the attachment to the head of the carpet wand. Suitably,a pair of attachment means is provided.

The elongate body typically comprises an opening in the bottom wall. Theopening may comprise an elongate slot which cooperates with theopening/elongate slot on the top wall. The opening in the bottom wallpreferably comprises an elongate slot that extends substantially alongthe length of the elongate body.

The attachment may comprise at least one nozzle/jet through which hotwater or other fluid can pass preferably under pressure. Suitably, aplurality of nozzles/jets is provided. The nozzles/jets may be providedon the elongate body to direct fluid under pressure towards the ground,and may be connected to a manifold or like member.

The, or each, nozzle/jet preferably communicates with a hose that isattached to the attachment. The hose can be attached to the supply ofhot water that forms part of the carpet cleaning apparatus as describedabove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to thefollowing drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a steam carpet wand in action on a carpet.

FIG. 2 illustrates the head of the carpet wand from below.

FIG. 3 illustrates a close-up view of the head of the carpet wand andparticularly showing the hot water jets.

FIG. 4 illustrates a top view of an attachment that can be attached tothe head of the carpet wand illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 to make thecarpet wand suitable for use on hard floor.

FIG. 5 illustrates a bottom view of the attachment of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates a bottom view of the attachment attached to thecarpet wand head.

FIG. 7 illustrates a top view of the attachment attached to the carpetwand head.

FIG. 8 illustrates a close-up view of a splashguard fixed to each end ofthe attachment to prevent overspray.

FIG. 9 illustrates the carpet wand containing the attachment cleaning ahard floor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-3, these illustrate a conventional carpetcleaning wand head. Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is illustrateda carpet wand which is made of metal and which comprises a hollow handle10 and a head 11.

FIG. 2 is an inverted view of head 11. Head 11 contains a transverseelongate slot 12 which communicates with handle 10 such that when astrong suction is applied to handle 10, slot 12 becomes a strong suctionslot. Handle 10 also supports a smaller hot water hose 12. Hot waterhose 12 couples to a pair of spray nozzles 13, 14 which are bestillustrated in FIG. 3. Splashguards 15 are provided on head 11 toprevent overspray. This arrangement is entirely conventional.

FIGS. 4-5 illustrates a top view and a bottom view of an attachment thatcan be attached to head 11 to convert the carpet wand into a hard floorcleaning tool. FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 illustrate the attachment fitted to thehead.

Referring initially to FIG. 4, the attachment 16 comprises an elongatebody 17 which has a top wall 18 containing an elongate slot 19. Slot 19has a length which is at least long enough to hold slot 12 in head 11,such that slot 12 can fit within or against slot 19 (see FIG. 7). It ispreferred that the slot 19 has a length to accommodate most types ofwand heads, such that the attachment is a “universal type” attachment.Once head 11 has been attached such that slot 12 fits within slot 19,the head is clamped to attachment 16 by an attachment means which in theparticular embodiment comprises a pair of angled plate members 20 whichcan be turned from the position illustrated in FIG. 4 to the positionillustrated in FIG. 7. Members 20 can be tightened using wing nuts 21 toclamp the attachment 16 firmly to head 11.

Seals (not illustrated) can be used to ensure that slot 19 seals againstslot 12 to minimise any loss of vacuum. The seals may comprise elongaterubber strips.

Slot 19 contains a portion 22 (best illustrated in FIG. 4) toaccommodate the edge of an overspray shield 15 on the carpet wand head(see FIGS. 2 and 7).

A plurality of nozzles form part of attachment 16. The nozzles 23 extendfrom a manifold 24 which communicates with hose 25. Hot water passingthrough hose 25 will therefore pass through manifold 24 and through eachof nozzles 23 to direct hot water to the floor. The manifold 24 isdetachable from the elongate body and can be attached to either theleading or trailing side of the elongate body. When used in the trailingposition, water is connected by the flexible hose in the same manner asin use in the leading position. When the operator wishes to use thefloor tool in the trailing position and needs to use water from theexisting nozzles on the wand head and from the nozzles attached to themanifold which is now attached in the trailing position, a T type joinerneeds to be fitted at the end of the hot water solution hose where itconnects to the wand nozzles.

Best illustrated in FIG. 6 is hose 25 which is coupled to the hot waterhose 12 that forms part of the conventional carpet wand. Specifically,one of the nozzles 13 of the conventional carpet wand is removed andhose 25 is connected to the opening to supply hot water to theattachment. Thus, it is not necessary to provide a separate supply ofhot water as the attachment will use the hot water which isconventionally supplied to the carpet wand.

Referring to FIG. 5, there is illustrated a bottom view of attachment16. An elongate slot 26 extends substantially along the length of thebottom of attachment 16 and communicates with slot 19.

Grooves are provided along the bottom of attachment 16 and various sidepieces can be fitted into the grooves, these comprising rubber strips,nylon brush strips, stainless steel carpet cleaning lips, etc. In theparticular embodiment, there is illustrated rubber strips 27 on eachside of slot 26.

In use, the attachment is fitted to the conventional head 11 of a carpetwand. Vacuum is then turned on and hot water is provided through hose 12such that hot water sprays through nozzles 23 and onto the hard surface(e.g. wooden floor, lino floor, etc). The water is sprayed onto thefloor under pressure ahead of attachment 16. As the attachment is movedover the floor, the floor will be cleaned and then the vacuum will suckup the water/dirt via slots 26 and 19 (see FIG. 9). When not required,the attachment can be easily removed.

The rubber strips are manufactured from a non-marking substance and aremoulded with grooves along the strip. When the rubber strips are movedover the floor surface, water is sucked through the grooves and into thevacuum slot and then to the waste area by the vacuum hose. When therubber strips are inserted for use on hard floor, timber, vinyl and likematerial, the rubber strips acts as a buffer between the metal of theelongate body and the floor. This prevents any damage to the floorsurface. Nylon brush strips can be used for scrubbing and cleaning andfor uneven surfaces. Stainless steel lips can be used for carpetcleaning.

Side shields 30 (see FIG. 8) can be fitted to each side of theattachment to prevent overspray.

The attachment can fit to various different commercial brands of carpetwands and it is not necessary to damage or to modify the existing carpetwand in any way.

The attachment can be used to clean vinyl and ceramic tiles, timber,stone, slate, concrete and any other hard surface.

However, the attachment can also be used to clean carpets by attachingstainless steel carpet cleaning lips to replace rubber strips 27 therebyproviding an increase in the cleaning width of the carpet wand.Therefore, the attachment should not be limited only to cleaning hardfloors.

Throughout the specification and the claims (if present), unless thecontext requires otherwise, the term “comprise”, or variations such as“comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to apply the inclusionof the stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of anyother integer or group of integers.

Throughout the specification and claims (if present), unless the contextrequires otherwise, the term “substantially” or “about” will beunderstood to not be limited to the value for the range qualified by theterms.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modificationscan be made to any embodiment described without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

1. An attachment for a carpet wand, the attachment being attachable tothe head of a carpet wand to make the carpet wand suitable for use onhard floors the attachment further containing at least one spray nozzle,and being in communication with a vacuum slot in the head of the carpetwand.
 2. The attachment as claimed in claim 1 which contains an elongateslot in a top wall, the elongate slot adapted for communication with thevacuum slot in the head of the carpet wand.
 3. The attachment as claimedin claim 2, including attachment means to releasably attach the head ofthe carpet wand to the attachment.
 4. The attachment as claimed in claim3, wherein the attachment means comprises a pair of clamping plateswhich are attached to the attachment and which can clamp against thehead of the carpet wand.
 5. The attachment as claimed in claim 4containing an elongate slot in a bottom wall which communicates with thehead of the carpet wand.
 6. The attachment as claimed in claim 1containing at least one strip member to treat the floor.
 7. Theattachment as claimed in claim 6, wherein the at least one strip membercomprises rubber strips, brush strips, and/or stainless steel strips. 8.The attachment as claimed in claim 6, wherein the at least one nozzle isoperatively connected to the hot water/steam hose of the carpet wand. 9.The attachment as claimed in claim 8, containing a plurality of nozzles.10. The attachment as claimed in claim 9 wherein the nozzles areoperatively connected to a common manifold, the manifold being adaptedfor connection to the hot water hose on the conventional carpet wand.